1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to home device control of a home network system, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for observing the status of devices in a home network system, managing and controlling the operation of the devices using a mobile terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A home network is the next-generation IT (Information Technology) technology that has been recently attracting a lot of attention, and is an aggregate of technologies that can maximize convenience in life in combination with the Internet based on the control, management, integration, and interlocking of information home appliances. The home network is divided into a lower network technology for physical data transmission, a middleware technology for interlocking with upper applications, and an information home technology that is applied to respective home appliances. At present, the home network has been combined with broadband communication, wireless Internet, sensor technology, and the like, and has extended to ubiquitous computing.
In such a home network system, research for a home network middleware that corresponds to an interface between a lower network layer and an application layer for controlling and managing information home appliances has been conducted. At present, diverse types of home network middleware, such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Jini technology, Phone Service Gateway Initiative (PSGi), Home Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi), and the like, have been provided and coexisted in a state where none of them has the superiority in technique.
Although home network systems, which have recently started to be installed at home around apartments, provide various services through wired/wireless appliances connected therein around a single home gateway, they cannot get out of the existing home automation level, except for services using external Internet, and run short of practicality due to the nonexistence of applications.